


It Took A Rumor (to make me wonder)

by dragon_temeraire



Series: Something To Talk About [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: College Student Stiles, Didn't Know They Were Dating, Fluff, Future Fic, M/M, Mistaken for Being in a Relationship, Oblivious Stiles, Pining, Rumors, Sheriff Stilinski Ships It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-02
Updated: 2018-05-02
Packaged: 2019-05-01 10:33:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14518572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragon_temeraire/pseuds/dragon_temeraire
Summary: Half the town seems to think that he and Derek are dating, and Stiles just can’t figure out why.





	It Took A Rumor (to make me wonder)

**Author's Note:**

> I heard the song Something To Talk About on the radio like five times in the past week, and I felt like that was a sign. So I wrote this fluffy little fic. And even though you don’t see them, I want to be clear that everyone is alive in this fic.

Stiles hears it first at the diner.

He likes to come here because they serve breakfast all day (what could be better than that?), and because they’ve always been friendly to him. He’s in a booth, eagerly waiting for his bacon and egg plate, when a lull in the noise lets him hear what’s being said at the host station.

“—haven’t seen Derek here in a week, and then Stiles is here _alone_ ,” his waitress says. “Do you think something’s going on?”

“I don’t think Stiles broke up with his boyfriend,” someone else says confidently. “Maybe Derek’s feeling under the weather. Hopefully Stiles is here to get him some soup, or something.”

Then the sounds of the diner overwhelm their words again, leaving Stiles alone with his shock. Not only do they think he has a boyfriend, they think that boyfriend _is Derek_. Stiles doesn’t really know how to deal with that.

But it’s the first time he’s heard anyone of the general public sound _concerned_ about Derek, so he can’t bring himself to say something to correct them. And when the waitress asks if he wants anything else, he makes sure to order a cup of soup to-go.

 

*

 

When the pack left for college, Stiles had stayed the closest, attending school only thirty minutes away. It was mostly because he wanted to be able to see his dad regularly, but also so he could spend time in Beacon Hills. He’d spent most of his high school years helping to drive the malevolence out, and damned if he wasn’t going to enjoy the place now.

But that meant that, aside from his dad, Derek was really the only other person around that Stiles wanted to spend time with. They’d finally come around to being actual friends, and he thought people understood that.

And sure, they’d sometimes make a day of it when Stiles came into town to celebrate a good test grade. Derek would treat him to lunch, usually at the diner, then they’d wander around downtown and Stiles would excitedly tell Derek about the things he was learning and the people he’d met. And Derek would in turn update Stiles on his own projects. He’d finished furnishing and decorating the loft (it’d only taken _four years,_ Stiles would joke), and now he was trying to figure out what to do with the empty spot where the Hale house had once stood. He was considering planting an orchard there, but he hadn’t decided yet.

After that, they’d sometimes go to the park and get snow-cones. They’d eat them on one of the benches, with Stiles leaned up against Derek’s side, feeling sleepy and content.

Surely that wasn’t such unusual behavior for friends, was it?

Was it?

 

*

 

He leaves the diner and heads straight to the loft, pulse a little fast even though this is _Derek_ , who he’s seen a million times. Stiles has never seen him as a boyfriend, though, not really.

“Hi,” Stiles says when Derek opens the door, eyes fixed on Derek’s handsome face, on the way he smiles when Stiles holds up the to-go cup.

“You brought me soup?” He asks, then takes a sniff. “And it’s my favorite, from the diner. Thank you.”

“Sure,” Stiles says, following Derek inside. “You hadn’t been there in a while, apparently. Everything okay?”

Derek was certainly better than he’d been in a long time, but sometimes he’d get in a mood and shut himself up in the loft for days at a time. It’d been happening less and less, though, at least as far as Stiles was aware.

“Yeah, I’m just busy. Been doing some research for one of the southern California packs,” Derek says, pointing to his coffee table, which is covered in books and papers.

“Still working on that inter-pack support thing, huh?” Stiles says, grinning. One of Derek’s life missions is to prevent feuding between packs and to promote information-sharing, which will only help to keep them all safe. “You want some help?”

“Sure,” Derek says. “If it won’t interfere with your school work.”

Stiles rolls his eyes. “You got a lecture from my dad, didn’t you? Well, I’m more than a week ahead, so no worries.”

Derek doesn’t look convinced. “And don’t you have class early tomorrow morning?” he asks, eyebrows raised.

“I regret giving you my schedule,” Stiles says dramatically. “I promise to leave by seven if you order us takeout.”

“Deal,” Derek says, eagerly opening the lid of the soup cup. “Now I’m going to eat this, and you can get working on that research,” he adds with a smirk.

Stiles just laughs. He doesn’t mind.

 

*

 

The second time it happens, Stiles is at the station having lunch with his dad. They’re both chewing quietly on the sub sandwiches he brought when two of the deputies walk by, deep in conversation. The door to the Sheriff’s office is slightly ajar, so in that moment Stiles hears with perfect clarity, “I don’t know why he doesn’t just introduce him as his boyfriend. Surely he doesn’t think we’ll judge? None of us consider Derek Hale to be anything except a model citizen these days.”

Stiles stares in horror at his dad, sandwich forgotten in his hands, as the deputies’ conversation fades away. “Why do they think that?” he hisses, because this is _ridiculous_.

“I tried correcting them at one point, but.” His dad shrugs. “You do spend an awful lot of your time with Derek. I’ve heard you’ve been spotted leaving his apartment early in the morning,” he says mildly.

“We fell asleep watching a movie!” Stiles huffs.

“And they’ve been convinced ever since deputy Cole saw you guys walking around downtown, holding hands,” the Sheriff continues. “Are you sure you don’t have something to tell me?”

“What? We weren’t—” Stiles starts to deny, but then he remembers. “It wasn’t, like, romantic. I’d had a little too much to drink, and Derek was making sure I didn’t walk into anything.” And if he’d liked the way his hand felt in Derek’s, how warm and happy he’d felt with them pressed shoulder to shoulder, well, he could blame that on the alcohol.

“Sure,” his dad says. “But if you ever get it figured out, I expect to see him at dinner, okay?”

Stiles rolls his eyes. “You need to let it go. He’s probably not even interested in me like that.”  

The Sheriff just gives him a look, and takes another bite of his sandwich.

 

*

 

“You seen anyone lately?” Stiles asks.

“What?” Derek says, concentrating on slicing the chicken.

“Have you, you know, seen anyone? Gone on any dates?”

“No,” Derek says, looking at him oddly. “Not for a while. Why?”

“Just curious,” Stiles says, and goes back to chopping vegetables.

 

*

 

The third time it happens, well.

“Did you know that people think we’re dating?” Stiles says as he throws open the door to Derek’s loft.

“How—what do you mean?” Derek says, eyeing him curiously.

“I went to get a snow-cone, and the girl who works there asked me where my boyfriend was,” Stiles says, waving his hands for emphasis.

“You got a snow-cone without me?” Derek asks, sounding a little hurt.

“I needed to think,” Stiles says apologetically. “It seems like half the town thinks we’re dating, and I was trying to figure out what to do about it.”

“I’m not really sure it’s a problem,” Derek says.

“Dude, how are you gonna get a date in this town if people think you’re with _me_?” Stiles asks. “So, here’s what we should do—we stage some kind of epic make out in the middle of the town square, and just when people are getting into our beautiful love story, we can shout _Ha! That’s what you get for making assumptions! We’re not even_ —”

“No,” Derek cuts in sharply. “I’m not going to—it’s my fault that people think we’re dating in the first place.”

Stiles stares at him for a moment. “Why,” he says hesitantly, “do you think that?”

“It started a while ago, when I stopped by the Sheriff’s office to ask if you were doing okay, because I hadn’t heard from you for almost a week,” Derek says.

“Midterms,” Stiles sighs. “I wasn’t as prepared as I thought I was.”

“I know. Your dad told me you were probably buried under a stack of books in the library,” Derek says. “But our conversation must have been overheard, because then people started asking me about you whenever I was around town. People I didn’t even _know_. And they kept telling me how great it was that I was _supportive_ , and that I should take care of you, make sure you weren’t getting too stressed, and I said of course I would, and—”

“You didn’t realize what they meant until it was too late?” Stiles asks, smiling a little.

“Not exactly,” Derek says neutrally. “I figured out pretty quickly that they thought we were dating, but I didn’t say anything, because I wanted them to believe it. I wanted it to be _real_.”

“You,” Stiles begins, then trails off, looking at Derek in shock.

And suddenly the memory all the little touches, all the smiles and lunches at the diner and all the _feelings_ he’s been shoving aside just break free. And everything finally makes sense. He’s had a crush on Derek this _whole time_ , and he didn’t even _notice_.

“I think everyone was right after all,” he says waveringly, swaying closer to Derek, “and I was just being an idiot.” Then he slides his arms around Derek and kisses him light and soft on the mouth.

“I was going to say oblivious,” Derek says smugly. “But that works too.”

Stiles rolls his eyes and kisses him again, lingering this time. “At least now I’ll notice when you’re taking me on dates.”

“I’d hope so,” Derek says teasingly. “But I’m thinking it’s your turn to take _me_ on a date.”

“I will totally do that,” Stiles says, grinning brightly. “I just have to introduce you as my boyfriend at the Sheriff’s station first.”

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to come by and prompt me/talk to me [ on tumblr](http://dragon-temeraire.tumblr.com/).


End file.
